Blackwood Trailer at DVinfo.net

Josh Woll · March 7th, 2007, 08:50 AM

I graduated from film school with a good friend of mine and we made this movie "Blackwood." A feature film shot on the outskirts of Wimington, NC. We like to say this movie has all the good elements of the Blair Witch Project and none of the bad (shaky camera, no real action). It's a horror/mockumentary with zombies and a group of close friends who are lost amongst themselves. Included in this message is a link to the official trailer. We are very close to mass producing DVDs, so if anyone is interested in purchasing a copy, we are selling them for $10. If you live outside of Wilmington, NC there will be a small shipping fee. We love to hear feedback, so thank you for taking the time to click the link below and check it out!

Josh Woll
Videographer, Editor, and Photographer
Mosaic in Motion, LLC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDfp0VIOB2Y

Daniel Gast · March 7th, 2007, 09:18 PM

The movie shows promise and looks like fun...

...the trailer, however, was horrible...

I don't even know what to tell you about it, it just didn't work. The narration didn't sound right, the shots weren't very inspiring to draw you in, the whole thing just wasn't very good.

But, as I said, from the trailer the movie does show promise, and I would be interested in seeing it. You're only selling DVDs? No online version?

That could be dangerous, because as entry-level filmakers, we're unknown and don't have a market except friends and family. Beyond that, unless you release it online, nobody is going to see your film. Nobody.

I'd recommend putting the whole film online, I'd love to see it. But I will be honest, I wouldn't pay you 10$ for this level of a film. No offense, of course, it's just I've never heard of you and the trailer wasn't really very good.

Jason Burkhimer · March 8th, 2007, 07:34 AM

I wholly agree with Daniel. I'd check out an online version of your film (or accept a free copy of the DVD. If you are really proud of the work, and truly believe its quality work, get it into as many hads as possible. This way, you build a little street-cred for your next project. My 2 cents anyway....

-burk

Josh Woll · March 8th, 2007, 09:18 AM

You both are absolutely right. I suppose I was anxious now that it is so close to being done, but honestly we can only start selling to friends and family because they will give us the support. We are going to send the movie to as many festivals as possible and go from there. Would either of you reccommend a good site to post the whole movie on? I hate the quality of the trailer is compressed the way it is, but it has to be that way for the web. I'm wondering if putting the feature length movie online, whether or not I can boost up the quality?

Thanks for your input and checking it out!

Nate Benson · March 8th, 2007, 09:19 AM

I enjoyed it, I agree with the above posts. Get it out there as much as possible.
My only critical observation was a fraction of the acting seemed unnatural, for example when the guy with the cigarette is telling the other guy to come on, he's not really freaking out and still has the cigarette in mouth. It just seemed like, the way it was set up, he should have been a little more freaked.

aside from that little observation, I thought it was well shot and edited, and wouldn't mind seeing the whole feature
well done.

Daniel Gast · March 8th, 2007, 12:11 PM

Welll, depending on how serious you are about filmaking, there are various avenues to pursue. One of which is to just buy your own webspace. I pay 60 dollars a year for 20 GB of webspace and some 40 GB of bandwidth, includes a .com, phpBB support, CGI, PHP, the works. Really good service, great download speeds, etc etc etc.

www.canaca.com has always been good to me.

I've never even come close to using up all that space, but it's there just in case. Just make a good compression of your film and put it online. How long is it, exactly?

For feature-length movies you might want to look into DivX or XviD. You could go for the more traiditional MOV, but that's going to be ginormous. Give us a more exact length and I'll see what suggestions I can make.

Heath McKnight · March 8th, 2007, 10:10 PM

FYI, I gave up on trying to cut a trailer for my movie...it's tough going. I'm having a friend do it, and he's having better luck. I look forward to another version!

heath

Josh Woll · March 9th, 2007, 07:06 AM

Trailers are difficult, because you have spent all this time on the movie and knowing exactly how things are supposed to work. With our case, the movie was shot scene by scene, there are no cut aways because it's shot documentary style, so the editing was really done with sound. When you have our trailer, we only have so many shots to work with and in most trailers you have a ton of shots to work with.

The movie with credits is just under 1hr. 15mins. long. Does Final Cut export DivX files? I will check out that link you listed. Thanks for your assistance so far.

Take care guys,

Josh

Heath McKnight · March 9th, 2007, 07:50 AM

Try having someone else give it a shot. I have an 86 minute ensemble film that has multiple characters and storylines. My problem was the trailer was too vague for anyone not familiar with the film.

My assistant editor's versions are coming out good, and are very clear to the audience. And it's a tease.

heath

Liam Hall · March 9th, 2007, 09:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daniel Gast

The movie shows promise and looks like fun...

...the trailer, however, was horrible...

If you think the movie shows promise and looks fun and makes you want to see more, then surely it's done its job?

For me, there's too much VO at the front. Let the actors and action tell the story. Apart from that I think it looks good. Well done.

Liam.

Josh Woll · March 10th, 2007, 10:49 AM

I think time will come when we let someone else try the movie and see what they come up with. We just finished the DVD menu and now were are going to try Disc Makers to produce a number of dvds to send to festivals and try to sell some.

Thanks Liam on the compliments, I believe if we did that, the trailer would have to be longer because the scenes are average 2 to 3 minutes in length. Worth a shot.

Best,

Josh

March 7th, 2007, 08:50 AM	#1
Josh Woll Regular Crew Join Date: May 2005 Location: Wilmington, NC Posts: 72	Blackwood Trailer I graduated from film school with a good friend of mine and we made this movie "Blackwood." A feature film shot on the outskirts of Wimington, NC. We like to say this movie has all the good elements of the Blair Witch Project and none of the bad (shaky camera, no real action). It's a horror/mockumentary with zombies and a group of close friends who are lost amongst themselves. Included in this message is a link to the official trailer. We are very close to mass producing DVDs, so if anyone is interested in purchasing a copy, we are selling them for $10. If you live outside of Wilmington, NC there will be a small shipping fee. We love to hear feedback, so thank you for taking the time to click the link below and check it out! Josh Woll Videographer, Editor, and Photographer Mosaic in Motion, LLC http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDfp0VIOB2Y

March 7th, 2007, 09:18 PM	#2
Daniel Gast Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Miami, Florida, USA Posts: 69	The movie shows promise and looks like fun... ...the trailer, however, was horrible... I don't even know what to tell you about it, it just didn't work. The narration didn't sound right, the shots weren't very inspiring to draw you in, the whole thing just wasn't very good. But, as I said, from the trailer the movie does show promise, and I would be interested in seeing it. You're only selling DVDs? No online version? That could be dangerous, because as entry-level filmakers, we're unknown and don't have a market except friends and family. Beyond that, unless you release it online, nobody is going to see your film. Nobody. I'd recommend putting the whole film online, I'd love to see it. But I will be honest, I wouldn't pay you 10$ for this level of a film. No offense, of course, it's just I've never heard of you and the trailer wasn't really very good. __________________ Dan Gast JD Video Productions

March 8th, 2007, 12:11 PM	#6
Daniel Gast Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Miami, Florida, USA Posts: 69	Welll, depending on how serious you are about filmaking, there are various avenues to pursue. One of which is to just buy your own webspace. I pay 60 dollars a year for 20 GB of webspace and some 40 GB of bandwidth, includes a .com, phpBB support, CGI, PHP, the works. Really good service, great download speeds, etc etc etc. www.canaca.com has always been good to me. I've never even come close to using up all that space, but it's there just in case. Just make a good compression of your film and put it online. How long is it, exactly? For feature-length movies you might want to look into DivX or XviD. You could go for the more traiditional MOV, but that's going to be ginormous. Give us a more exact length and I'll see what suggestions I can make. __________________ Dan Gast JD Video Productions

March 8th, 2007, 10:10 PM	#7
Heath McKnight MPS Digital Studios Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Palm Beach County, Florida Posts: 8,531	FYI, I gave up on trying to cut a trailer for my movie...it's tough going. I'm having a friend do it, and he's having better luck. I look forward to another version! heath __________________ My Final Cut Pro X blog

March 9th, 2007, 07:50 AM	#9
Heath McKnight MPS Digital Studios Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Palm Beach County, Florida Posts: 8,531	Try having someone else give it a shot. I have an 86 minute ensemble film that has multiple characters and storylines. My problem was the trailer was too vague for anyone not familiar with the film. My assistant editor's versions are coming out good, and are very clear to the audience. And it's a tease. heath __________________ My Final Cut Pro X blog

March 8th, 2007, 07:34 AM	#3
Jason Burkhimer Major Player Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Virginia Beach, VA Posts: 220	I wholly agree with Daniel. I'd check out an online version of your film (or accept a free copy of the DVD. If you are really proud of the work, and truly believe its quality work, get it into as many hads as possible. This way, you build a little street-cred for your next project. My 2 cents anyway.... -burk

March 8th, 2007, 09:18 AM	#4
Josh Woll Regular Crew Join Date: May 2005 Location: Wilmington, NC Posts: 72	You both are absolutely right. I suppose I was anxious now that it is so close to being done, but honestly we can only start selling to friends and family because they will give us the support. We are going to send the movie to as many festivals as possible and go from there. Would either of you reccommend a good site to post the whole movie on? I hate the quality of the trailer is compressed the way it is, but it has to be that way for the web. I'm wondering if putting the feature length movie online, whether or not I can boost up the quality? Thanks for your input and checking it out!

March 8th, 2007, 09:19 AM	#5
Nate Benson Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Buffalo, New York Posts: 157	I enjoyed it, I agree with the above posts. Get it out there as much as possible. My only critical observation was a fraction of the acting seemed unnatural, for example when the guy with the cigarette is telling the other guy to come on, he's not really freaking out and still has the cigarette in mouth. It just seemed like, the way it was set up, he should have been a little more freaked. aside from that little observation, I thought it was well shot and edited, and wouldn't mind seeing the whole feature well done.

March 9th, 2007, 07:06 AM	#8
Josh Woll Regular Crew Join Date: May 2005 Location: Wilmington, NC Posts: 72	Trailers are difficult, because you have spent all this time on the movie and knowing exactly how things are supposed to work. With our case, the movie was shot scene by scene, there are no cut aways because it's shot documentary style, so the editing was really done with sound. When you have our trailer, we only have so many shots to work with and in most trailers you have a ton of shots to work with. The movie with credits is just under 1hr. 15mins. long. Does Final Cut export DivX files? I will check out that link you listed. Thanks for your assistance so far. Take care guys, Josh

March 10th, 2007, 10:49 AM	#11
Josh Woll Regular Crew Join Date: May 2005 Location: Wilmington, NC Posts: 72	I think time will come when we let someone else try the movie and see what they come up with. We just finished the DVD menu and now were are going to try Disc Makers to produce a number of dvds to send to festivals and try to sell some. Thanks Liam on the compliments, I believe if we did that, the trailer would have to be longer because the scenes are average 2 to 3 minutes in length. Worth a shot. Best, Josh